SteveM

For the 2nd one: Tenryūshi, Masataka comes to mind, but not quite a match 天龍子　 Looks more like 巧龍子 or 丂龍子. Anyway, the first kanji eludes me. 正隆作 Looks like the second kanji is a cross between 隆 and 澄. Sort of like 登 with kozato-hen (Tenryūshi Masataka is the name of a swordsmith, not a tsuba maker as far as I know...I only throw his name out here because the name on this tsuba contains similar elements)

濃劦住平田兼隆作 Nōshū-jū Hirata Kanetaka saku WWII smith. You can see an example of his oshigata here. https://japaneseswordindex.com/oshigata/kanetaka.jpg

The kanji look OK to me... 火之用心 (hi-no-yōjin) "beware of fire". So this is the bag of a night-watchman, one of the neighborhood men who walk at night reminding people to put out their fires. The fish (snapper, I think) in the wagon, the trumpet, and the thing on the bottom of the haori look like children's toys. I would have no reason to suspect this is Chinese-made. It have no reason to doubt it was made in Japan, but I too am not an expert in these things.

I vote for yamawasabi. The theme seems to be common, the plant is apparently auspicious, grows on water and the aoi (hollyhock) leaf reminds us of the Tokugawa family crest. I'm no botanist, but the internet tells me geraniums didn't arrive in Japan until the end of the Tokugawa government. Linking some other variations. http://inishie-kb.jp/2017/04/04/tb0015/ http://fluorite.sakura.ne.jp/contentspage/kodougu/b_n_contents/bn005_082/bn005_082.html http://www.katana-hattori.com/tsuba/03_12.html

As John says above; a manual on swordsmanship 剣術教範 Kenjutsu Kyōhan (Swordfighting manual) 陸軍省検閲済 (approved by Army censors) 昭和九年三月六日　March 6, 1934 It looks like a manual that was periodically renewed. There are earlier versions of the same available online. http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/936050

武藤政克工 Takefuji Masakatsu kō c.Bunsei 13 (Wakayama pp 377)

The mon on the bag is a variation of mokkō (Japanese quince). It kind of looks like #255 on the list below 唐木瓜内に三つ引き (kara mokkō nai ni mitsu hiki) - three bars in flowering quince http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~rabichan/m-line/mokkou06.html

Take a look at the thread here. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/7712-translation-help-kanenaga-yoshinaga/

I wonder if Iida Kōendō could help you out. It is the Tokyo sword shop run by the descendants of Mr. Iida of the scabbard-latch fame. At least, I think it is...memory is getting slightly buggy. http://iidakoendo.com/english/

光龍子重俊 Kōryūshi Shigetoshi http://www.sanmei.com/contents/media/T276873_Y1408_PUP.html For the second one, I agree with Ray: Sanenobu (實信), but I can't find any reference or other examples.

Names and ranks of the people in the photo, but I guess you already knew this.

↑　Yes, 濃州住大矢友信作 Noshū-jū Ōya Tomonobu saku. WWII smith.

Right to left was used up until the middle of the last century. So the sign is read right to left. Use left to right for the search engine, or you will get back gibberish. It is a set phrase of the kind I linked to above. Another example of a translation https://bkrs.info/slovo.php?ch=%E8%83%9E%E4%B8%8E%E4%B8%BA%E6%80%80 It doesn't strike me as strange. There may be some context that we are missing: perhaps it is a phrase or a reference from classic Chinese literature, or part of a famous saying by Lao Tzu or one of the other Chinese philosophers.

Whew - from looking at Kanshiro's other works, which feature a lot of karakusa, I felt I was close... but I was expecting karakusa-no-zu or something like that.

肥後 勘四郎初代 真鍮地 ？？彫 Higo Kanshiro, the first (shodai) Shinchū-ji ?? hori (bori) The two with the question marks are killing me. Can't figure out what they could be. I thought the first one was 鹿 or 唐 but neither of those fit with the final 彫 (I think). Usually we see something like 高彫 or some such.... driving me nuts. edit: maybe 唐草彫 but... feels weird to me.

胞與為懐 Something like "be compassionate towards all people". I think its from a Chinese saying. Maybe one of the Chinese speakers can fill in the blanks. https://www.moedict.tw/%E8%83%9E%E8%88%87%E7%82%BA%E6%87%B7 Bao yu wei huai....apparently. Its probably a gate to a city or some public space, rather than a sign over a building.

春日製造所文忠作 Kasuga Seizōsho Fumitada saku This may be the same smith as Harumoto mentioned on the site below. https://www.japaneseswordindex.com/gendai2.htm Would like to see the date side without the boxes on it. I think you have the date right, but the "kore" by itself at the end doesn't make sense.

Yes it is unusual that wakizashi is crossed out and "katana" is written in pencil, and then the penciled-in attribution to a very big name is also weird. And I also thought the "Seki Magoroku jū" was weird. Why does "jū" come after the Magoroku? I would have expected Seki-jū, not Magoroku-jū, but the writer is obviously someone who knows Japanese so I put it down to a way of using "jū" that I am not familiar with.

関孫六住初代兼則之作 Seki Magoroku (jū) shodai Kanenori kore saku

正宗　Masamune...

Masako 雅子 is a girl's name. Maybe a present for her?

Looks like this mei https://hinative.com/en-US/questions/6762741 The first kanji might also be 藝, so 藝州 or Geishū is another possibility (but I think John is correct, and that it is probably Unshū) The name looks like Nagataka (長孝) as the other thread says. I did a brief search to find if there was an Unshū Nagataka, or a Geishū Nagataka, but couldn't find anything. So the -taka might be a different kanji altogether, or it could be a forgery, or could be an obscure smith that nobody has heard of before.

Hello Paul, Yes the bonji on swords are usually representations of Buddhist gods (well, Japanese interpretations of Buddhist gods). The long decorative kurikara under the bonji, if I'm not mistaken, represents Fudo-Myō-ō′s sword, and that could be interpreted as being the sword used to "eradicate evil from men's hearts". Take a look at this thread here, where another member has written up a rather nice description of some of this symbolism. http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/14701-deeper-significance-of-suken-h%C5%8Dken-kurikarary%C5%AB-etc-hori/ One of the sites I linked to also says bonji are associated with the Chinese zodiac signs (the sexegenary zodiac), so they have that symbolism as well.

Hello Look at bonji as being symbolic, and not as text. Usually on swords they symbolize Buddhist gods. Your Sanskrit 2 is Ban (バン) and represents the Dainichi Nyorai (大日如来) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vairocana Your Sanskrit 1 is tricking me, because it looks like Kan (representing Fudō Myōō) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acala however the two dots to the right of the bonji make it look like something else. Talaak or something. I found this chart useful, but it doesn't have English translations or transliterations https://uranailady.com/07_bonji.html ps: Welcome to NMB, by the way. Note that board rules request you provide a real name, so we can address each other properly. another ps: nice-looking sword. I wish my first purchase was as nice as that.

As Chris says, "maru ni kisen ikari" (丸に汽船錨). Or it could be maru ni gunkan ikari 丸に軍艦錨 You can find various anchor kamon variations here https://www.kamon18.com/cart/goodslist.cgi?in_kate=15-1205 https://kamon.myoji-yurai.net/kamonSearchResult.htm?page=1&genre=0&keyword=%E9%8C%A8 Its a bit rare, I think. In this case, I wonder if its a navy or merchant marine symbol, rather than a kamon.